KARACHI: Pakistan is set to export technical manpower to Saudi Arabia as the demand for technical staff increases in the Kingdom and other Gulf countries in public and private sector organizations.

Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development officials say that the demand for technical staff has been communicated to the corporation through the embassy of Pakistan.
“Our leading client in Saudi Arabia requires the services of workers for Cinema and Museum in the fields of museum conservator, museum registrar, accessibility in education specialist, evaluation and research specialist, public services, program delivery support, back of house (technical services), library computer technical support, technical services cataloguing and logistics, cameraman, parking attendant, security specialist, graphic designer,” states an advert on the corporation’s website.
“We have also received demand for engineers required in many sectors such as mechanical, electrical, civil, chemical processing and many more,” Javed Zafar Khan, OEC director of operations, told Arab News. “The number of workers would depend on the requirement of the employers,” he said.
He said that after completion of due process, the interview of selected candidates would be lined up either by the delegation of employers who visited Pakistan or it could be done on Skype.
In the 1970s Pakistan exported human resources mainly to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This increased to 2.08 million and 0.88 million respectively between 1971 to 2005 respectively, Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment figures show.
Some 5 million Pakistanis served in the Kingdom between 1971 to April 2018 while 3.52 million people were employed during the same period in the UAE.
After the Gulf War in the 1990s, workers started coming home and Pakistani workforces declined in the Middle East and other countries. However, exports to the Kingdom regained momentum and reached a record 0.52 million in 2015. It still remains the top destination for the Pakistani workforce.
Recent measures taken by the Kingdom, including taxation, forced many expats to return to their home countries.
“Many Pakistanis coming from Kingdom were those who were working illegally or those who could not afford to pay fees. Human resource export has declined not ended,” Javed Zafar Khan said. “We are ready to provide them quality manpower whenever and wherever is required.”
As Pakistani expats are coming back to their home country, steps are being taken to accommodate skilled and unskilled workers in the mega China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects which are estimated to offer around 700,000 direct jobs by 2030.
Many Pakistani organization in public and private sector are gearing up to increase the share of the Pakistani workforce in CPEC along with their Chinese counterparts. “EFP has announced Skills 2020 Pakistan. The EFP plans to provide skill development and vocational training to 200,000 over the next five years through top institutes. Our aim is to train at least 20,000 for overseas jobs,” Mayjid Aziz, president of the Employers’ Federation of Pakistan, told Arab News.
“We are in negotiations with the International Training Institute of ILO in Turin, Italy, for technical support. We have signed an MoU with AmanTech, and since the Skills Development Council is under the umbrella of EFP, we will utilize its facilities too. Moreover, Hunar Foundation and Descon Institute will also be approached,” Aziz said.
Pakistan largely depends on workers’ remittances to meet its external payment obligation. Currently the country is facing a historic high current account deficit, mainly due to the huge trade deficit which has increased to $34 billion and insufficient remittances.
Pakistanis expats sent home $17.5 billion during the last fiscal year FY17, while the country received $18 billion in 11 months of the current fiscal year, FY18, which suggest that the remittance target of $20.7 billion would not be achieved.

Philippine president wants to end anti-drug war in three years

Philippines being investigated for extrajudicial killings

Anti-drug campaign signature policy of president

Updated 21 March 2019

Ellie Aben

March 21, 2019 22:03

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MANILA: Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Thursday he wanted to finish his war on drugs in three years, defying an international probe into his controversial and deadly campaign to rid the country of narcotics.
Duterte, who came to power in 2016, has made a ‘war on drugs’ the hallmark of his administration.
But it has been reported that 20,000 people have been killed in what rights groups call a wave of “state-sanctioned violence.”
The firebrand president remains unfazed by the condemnation, and the cases filed against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his crackdown.
He insisted he would assume full responsibility for any consequences due to his decision to enforce the law, telling a military audience his goals.
“I’d like to finish this war, both (with the) Abu Sayyaf (a militant group) and also the communists, and the drug problem in about three years … we'd be able (to) ... reduce the activities of the illegal trade and fighting to the barest minimum.
“I’m not saying I am the only one capable (of achieving these goals) ... I assume full responsibility for all that would happen as a consequence of enforcing the law — whether against the criminals, the drug traffickers or the rebels who’d want to destroy government.”
Earlier this month, the Philippines withdrew from the ICC, citing the global body's interference in how the country was run as the reason.
On Tuesday, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that investigations into alleged extrajudicial killings in the Philippines would continue despite its exit.
But the government has said it will not cooperate with the ICC, and has even warned its personnel about entering the country for the investigation.
There are Filipinos who support Duterte’s campaign, however, and believe it works. Among them is former policeman Eric Advincula.
He said there had been an improvement in the situation since Duterte came to power.
“For one, the peace and order situation has improved, like for example in villages near our place where there used to be rampant drug peddling,” he told Arab News.
“The price of illegal drugs is now higher, an indication that the supply also went down. Also, it was easy to catch drug peddlers before because they were doing their trade openly. But now they are more careful, you can't easily locate them.”
Official data from the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in February indicated that 5,176 ‘drug personalities’ were killed in the anti-drugs war between July 1, 2016 to Jan. 31, 2019.
More than 170,000 drug suspects have been arrested during a total of 119,841 anti-narcotics operations in the last two and a half years.